Whatever Happens
by Ster J
Summary: Spock has placed himself in harm's way yet again to protect his crew. McCoy has to put him back together but finds himself needing some assurances. SLASH


Whatever Happens

Title: Whatever Happens

Author: Ster Julie

Series: TOS  
Rating: PG-13  
Codes: S/Mc

Archive: Yes, but just where I post

Summary: Spock has placed himself in harm's way yet again to protect his crew. McCoy has to put him back together but finds himself needing some assurances.

A/N: Yes, yet another wedding has inspired me. This is dedicated to the groom's sister and her partner (whom I accidentally outed at the reception--oops!)

--ooOoo--

It wasn't the bleeding or the compound fractures or even the labored breathing that tore at McCoy's heart as he looked on an injured Spock. It was the small whimpering noises that the Vulcan was desperately trying to control that threatened to turn the doctor into a sniveling mess.

McCoy let Dr. M'Benga assess the Vulcan as he stayed at Spock's head and tried to soothe him.

"You're gonna be alright, Spock," McCoy assured. Spock let out a pitiful moan. "I know, you have several broken bones including a couple of ribs that have punctured a lung and scratched your heart a bit, but it's nothing we can't repair." Spock opened his eyes and tried to focus on the doctor's face. "You saved your crew," McCoy continued, answering the unspoken question in Spock's gaze. "You saved them all with that fancy flying and crazy landing. You were the only one injured."

Spock closed his eyes at that bit of news, grateful that no one had been killed. Otherwise, it would have been Murasaki 312 all over again. Just then, Spock's breathing grew erratic. McCoy caressed Spock's head murmuring softly to him, "Just try to take regular breaths, Spock. We're going to give you something for the pain and when you wake up, all of your broken bones will be set, you'll be able to breathe more easily, and you will feel so much better. You can trust me on that."

Spock looked up into McCoy's eyes and saw tears that threatened to spill. His shaky hand tried to reach up to console his distraught t'hy'la but the hiss of a hypo caused his hand to fall back down to the bed as he whipered, "… trust … you…"

McCoy bit back a sob as he straightened. With Herculean effort he pulled himself back together and assisted M'Benga and Chapel as they cut away Spock's uniform and began treatment.

The heart damage was minimal, and doing surgery would cause more harm than good, so the team turned to the lungs instead. They reduced the fractured ribs, drained the blood in the cavity and reinflated the punctured lung.

Thankfully there were no other internal organs damaged, so the team moved to the broken bones. Nurse Chapel set Spock's right pinky finger and wrist while McCoy set Spock's left radius and ulna. M'Benga concentrated on Spock's left femur, tibia and fibula.

When all of Spock's broken bones had been set and his wounds closed, McCoy shooed M'Benga and Chapel off to a well deserved rest then sat vigil next to a sleeping Spock. The doctor couldn't stop reviewing the accident that had nearly claimed his beloved.

_When the shuttle had finally come to a stop on that rocky, mountain ledge, the front forward edge had hit a boulder, crushing the shuttle into the pilot's seat -- Spock's seat, making it look like Spock had melted halfway into the rock. The rescue team had been horrified when they came to extract him from the tangle of metal and rock. They had even reported that Spock appeared dead, but the sound of McCoy's cry over the communicator seemed to rouse the Vulcan. In the end, it was Mr. Scott's pinpoint accuracy that beamed Spock out of the wreckage and directly to the zero-g tank in Sickbay, where, once Spock's broken bones were immobilized, he could be moved to the main ward for treatment._

McCoy battled through the night with his dark thoughts and fought back tears. Once again, they had come so close to losing Spock.

McCoy quietly poured out his heart to the slumbering Vulcan. "Oh, Spock, this is gonna have to stop. One of these days I won't be able to put you back together again. What then? What am I going to do without you? Oh, that just sounds so selfish of me to say, but I can't help it. I'll be lost without you!"

McCoy checked the chronometer. 0520. Jim _might_ be awake by now. The doctor eased over to a wall unit and whispered, "McCoy to Kirk."

"Kirk here," came the immediate, albeit sleepy reply.

"Can you come to Sickbay now, Jim?" McCoy asked with a shaky voice. "Can you bring your ritual book?"

"Oh, God!" Kirk breathed. "What's wrong, Bones? Is he … ?" Kirk could not finish asking the question, thinking that Spock was dead and that McCoy was asking him for the burial rites.

"No, no," McCoy assured. "Spock's gonna be fine, but _I'm_ a wreck. Just come down here as soon as you can, and bring your book. I'm gonna get that green-blooded, sonofabitch to marry me if it's the last thing I do. McCoy out."

"But we're already bonded," came a weak voice from the bed. "And I am not a son of a bitch."

McCoy whipped around at the sound. "Oh, darlin,'" he apologized, "I didn't mean to wake you up."

"I was awake," Spock assured. He reached for his t'hy'la's hand and McCoy squeezed it gently to his own chest. "I thought you said I was going to be alright," Spock reminded. "Why are you so agitated?"

This time the tears did spill.

"You are going to be alright," McCoy assured, "but it was so damn close this time, Spock. You nearly died." The doctor paused to drag a sleeve across his eyes. "If you were to leave me, I would be so lost. I don't know who I would be without you."

"You are Leonard Horatio McCoy _adun_ Spock," the Vulcan said soothingly.

McCoy dropped Spock's hand and prowled away from the bed. "I don't understand all that Vulcan mental mumbo-jumbo!" he argued passionately. "I want to pronounce vows with you. I want to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are my husband."

"We are spouses, Lenkam," Spock reassured. "A Vulcan bonding is recognized as a marriage on nearly all the member worlds of the Federation."

McCoy threw his hands in the air. "I don't understand this bonding stuff," he fumed. "I understand vows, words. God knows I've thrown enough of them at you."

"This much is certain," Spock replied.

McCoy turned on Spock. "You callin' me a chatterbox?" he demanded.

"Yes," Spock replied truthfully," but mercifully, you are not one in bed."

"Okay, too much information!" Kirk said from the doorway. "So, what's this I hear about a wedding?"

McCoy took Spock's hand once more. "I'm trying to make an honest man out of your First Officer, Jim," he said hopefully.

"Well, Spock?" Kirk asked.

Spock looked from his friend to his t'hy'la's eyes. He sighed dramatically (for McCoy's benefit, of course). "I am always an 'honest man.' What do I need to do?" he relented.

McCoy beamed. "Wait right there," he said as he moved to the outer ward. Spock looked first at his leg in traction then at Kirk as if to say, "Who is he kidding?"

McCoy soon returned with Dr. M'Benga, two bands, and an odd assortment of flowers. Kirk snickered at the phallic looking arrangement. There was one perfect magnolia, one large fire blossom, and one long branch of flowering pink peach blossoms sticking straight up between them.

"Can't have a wedding without flowers," McCoy observed. "Before you ask, they came out of the replicator, so don't expect any scent."

"You planned all this," Kirk deduced.

"When?" Spock asked.

"While I was keeping yet one more lonely vigil over you, Spock," McCoy answered bluntly. "Now, Geoff's agreed to be my Best Man, so you can be Spock's witness, Jim." The doctor turned toward Spock, "If that's okay with you." Spock merely nodded.

McCoy noted that Spock was beginning to tire again, so he turned to the captain. "Uh, Spock's fading fast, so you can skip that opening paragraph and get right to vows business."

Kirk actually pouted. "Aw, that's my favorite part." McCoy shot Kirk a glare so he knew not to press any further. "Do you want traditional vows, or do you want to be spontaneous?"

"Let's do this right," McCoy said as he turned to take Spock's right hand in his own and to look into his eyes.

"I, Leonard Horatio McCoy, take you, Spock, uh, Spock with a last name I cannot pronounce yet, for my lawful husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and health, to love and to cherish until we are parted by death."

Spock looked puzzled. Was he changing his mind? McCoy wondered.

"What do all those words mean?" Spock asked.

McCoy caressed his beloved's cheek. "It means, Spock," he explained, "that no matter what happens, I will be your husband. I will be there for you. Forever."

Spock reached up and caressed his Lenkam's cheek with two unbandaged fingers. "Well then, Leonard Horatio McCoy," Spock began, "I vow to you that, no matter what happens, I will be your husband. I will be there for you. Forever." Spock looked from a stunned McCoy to an equally astonished Kirk and back. "Was that not sufficient?" Spock asked.

"By the powers invested in me by the United Federation of Planets as Captain of the Enterprise, I now pronounced you married," Kirk said quickly. "You may now kiss the bri … You may now seal your union with a, um, an appropriate gesture."

"Gesture my ass," McCoy muttered. "C'mere, you," he said to Spock as he grabbed him by the pointed ears and kissed him silly.

Kirk fumbled around the newlyweds to press their thumbs onto the padd. He added his own and Dr. M'Benga's as witnesses then left the two lovebirds.

"Do you feel married now?" Spock asked once they came up for air.

McCoy smiled. "Yes," he answered happily as he slipped a ring onto Spock's finger, "yes I do."

"So now," Spock observed as he did the same for his Lenkam, "no matter what happens to each of us, we will be there for one another."

"Forever," McCoy answered, "whatever happens."

END


End file.
